Forgotten Guardians
Chapter 8

Josan, Miranda and Wolf traveled with the caravan for another week before taking their leave at a small village at the foot of the Darna Mountains. Josan sold the weapons they retrieved from the robbers to dealers in the caravan, all except the silver crossbow and little mace. They said their good-byes and gave the silver lined crossbow to Roland, to show thanks for letting them travel with him. He was so grateful to receive such a fine weapon that in return he provided them with anything they wanted from the caravan free of charge. Josan took a new pair of leather boots and Miranda took a silk gown of pale umber. Josan was about to object to the useless item until he saw the look in her eyes. She was just farm girl who had never owned a gown and she would look stunning it so he held his peace. Roland raved about how beautiful she would look wearing it and how all the men would fall to their knees before her.

They were about a mile from the village when Wolf took off from the road to the hilly outskirts to stay out of sight. As Josan and Miranda walked into the town they saw that several of the outer buildings where smashed or reduced to a smoldering sod. Josan looked around at the ruins and wondered what could have created the destruction. It was easy to tell this had been a farming village; its dirt roads were sloppy with mud and droppings from the animal traffic and the few standing buildings left were built from sod and hatched roofs. But why would anyone attack a simple village as this?

They walked to the center of the small village and saw a battered old sign with a faint painting of a foamy mug hang above a dilapidated building. This was the village tavem, its smell of sweat and ale drifting in the air would have identified it without the sign. Josan knew how Vander traveled and his choice of establishment was always the same. Vander loved to show off and what better place then a tavem full of rustic farmers who had never seen a sword.

They walked up the old rickety steps and entered through the musky doorway. Miranda straightened her shoulders and adjusted her sword on her hip and Josan pulled his hood down lower making sure they didn’t have a repeat of the last time they were in a tavem. A portly man standing behind the bar looked their way and nodded, but no else seemed to notice their entrance. There was practically no light, except a few lanterns hanging from the wall, casting eerie shadows across the rough faces of the tavem patrons. Josan walked to the bar and signaled to the bartender. The portly man made his way down the bar eyeing Josan carefully. Miranda moved in behind Josan as the two men talked in low voices. Miranda could feel eyes roaming over her; she glanced around the dimly light area, just to see the men quickly turning away. After a few moments coversing with the bartender Josan turned back around to Miranda.

“The bartender says that he has not seen Vander or anyone like him,”

“Where to now?” Miranda asked. Suddenly she felt something brush against her rump and a quick jerk. She looked down to find her coin purse gone. She spun around to find a man sitting behind her, conversing with some other patrons. Without thinking she landed a blow on the back of the man’s head. The man lurched forward in surprise and quickly turned around to see who had hit him. His eyes opened in shock to find a small woman standing behind him, but the surprise did not last long. “You’re going to pay for that, wench,” he said as he stood. He was clearly twice her size and corded from years of laboring. He threw a punch aimed straight for Miranda’s face, but his fist was intercepted. Josan stood directly behind Miranda holding the man’s fist; a quick twist of the man’s wrist sent him to his knees. The other men sitting at the table stood up and rushed towards the group. Sudden mayhem took over. Men were throwing punches at other patrons in the bar, joining in on the chaos. Soon the entire bar was engaged in a live or death brawl.

Josan was quickly outnumbered; five men were punching and kicking at him from every direction, Josan excepted a few hits but did not waver. His hands moved faster than the men could see, hitting pressure points and bringing the enraged attackers down fast. He didn’t want to kill these men, only to immobilize them for the time being. Miranda was doing better than Josan, being of her small size and a woman, most of the drunken men paid her no mind, which was their last mistake before being rendered unconscious. Miranda had picked up a lable leg and wielded it like a sword. Most of them didn’t see her coming until a loud thump rang through their skulls and they were lying on the floor.

The front door swung open and a frail old man with a clean trimmed white beard and a plain gray robe stepped in. He stood very still for minute, perceiving the chaos around him and then raised his arms and shouted an Arcane word, “litin-sanco.” The air became very still and sound disappeared entirely. Everyone stood frozen in place as the air around them became too heavy to move. The robed man walked to the bar and called to the bartender. The portly man stood up from behind ihe bar and scurried over.

“What is going on in here? Who started this fight?” the robed man said to the bartender, but loud enough for everyone to hear it.

“They did, right there. They all of a sudden struck Burns,” the bartender said pointing toward Miranda and Josan.

When the robed man walked towards the two, Josan knew right away that this man was a wizard. The spell was already loosing get grip as everyone calmed down. The wizard stood in front of them and with a voice of authority, “Why did you start a fight in our village? We do not take kindly lo...”

“We didn’t start it. That man grabbed me and stole my purse.” Miranda shouted back at the wizard before he could finish.

The wizard looked down at the man who Miranda had slugged. “Tritan, did you steal her purse or touch her?” the wizard asked in a calm voice.

“No, of course not, Weldom, she just hit me for no reason,” the man said as he tried to sit up.

“Liar,” Miranda screamed.

The wizard turned back around and faced the two again. He studied Miranda for a second and then looked at Josan. His brow furrowed for a moment before something behind them caught his eye from the shadows.

“Uuger, come here. Uuger!” the wizard demanded.

A small figure crawled out of the shadows and came to the wizard’s feet. It was some type of creature. It had dark green skin with a few lighter spots of green on its arms and shoulders. Its ears were big and came to a soft point and it had big black eyes with no pupils or irises, its jaw stuck out with two little tusks protruding from its mouth. It was about three feet tall but seemed to scurry rather than walk. Its hands had only three fingers and they ended in little claws. The only thing it wore was a pair of small cut off trousers held up by suspenders. It was carrying something in its hand.

“Uuger, show me what you have in your hand,” the wizard demanded. The creature lowered its head as if ashamed, “Uuger,” the wizard said again firmly. The creature extended its arm and opened its hand toward the wizard. In the creature’s palm was Miranda’s coin purse. The wizard bent down and took the purse from the creature. “Uuger, you know better than to steal from people. That was a very bad thing to do,” the wizard scolded. The wizard turned back to Miranda and Josan embarrested. The wizard handed Miranda back her purse. “I’m sorry, this is the first time that he has stolen money, he means no harm,” he said in a humble voice.

“No money, magic, magic,” Uuger proclaimed from behind the wizard’s legs. The wizard turned back to two

travelers and looked at them curiously.

Realization dawned on Miranda after a moment. She opened her coin purse. “I think he must mean this,” Miranda said as she pulled out the fairy stone she had got off the halfiing.

“See, Uuger not steal money, magic,” Uuger said as he moved closer to look at the fairy stone.

“Oh yes, please forgive Uuger. He is drawn to magical items, but that is no reason to take things that don’t belong to you,” the wizard said as he looked down at Uuger. The small creature lowered his head in shame. “Uuger, do you have something to say to her?”

“Uuger sorry for taking magic rock from pretty lady,” the creature said as he stood in front of Miranda.

“It’s alright Uuger,” Miranda said with a smile.

The wizard returned her smile and Uuger gave a grin with his small tusks sticking out. “My name is Weldon, I’m the law keeper in this village.”

“My name is Miranda and this is Josan,” Miranda replied.

Weldon took Miranda’s hand and gave a respectable kiss. Then he turned and nodded to Josan. “You must let me repay you for this inconvenience. Would you join me at my home for dinner?” Weldon asked.

They agreed and the four headed for the door. Weldon turned to the bartender and told him he would return later to repair the damage. Weldon then lead Josan and Miranda to the center of the small village where his home resided. Uuger had insisted on carrying Miranda’s pack, even though it was almost as big as he was. He walked beside the wizard, every now and then looking back at Miranda and giving a tusky grin. Weldon escorted them into his humble house. It was a small two room house with a thatched roof identical to every house they had seen. A small fire place warmed the room from the far side and a large window was opposite of the fire. There was some furniture, a table with bottles and books laid all about it. Next to the picture window sat a small table and chairs. On the other side of the room were two beds. From their sizes, it was easy to tell who slept in which.

“Please sit. I’ll make some tea,” the elderly wizard said he disappeared into the other room. Uuger hurried over to a small stool next to the table and sat down. “Uuger, where are your manners? Help Lady Miranda with her chair,” Weldon said in a loving fatherly way. Uuger jumped off his stool and pulled out Miranda’s chair for her. Miranda almost blushed at the cute attempt Uuger made when he tried to push her chair in.

“Thank you Uuger, you are quite the gentlemen,” Miranda cooed. Uuger’s face became bright red through his green skin as he straightened at the compliment. Weldon returned holding a tray with cups, a plate of treats and a teapot. Josan sat down in the comer seat, out of the sunlight. He had not said a word since they had met Weldon. Josan was cautios around wizards. Most were cryptic with everything thing they said and they had ways of finding things out about a person through magical means. The last thing Josan wanted was a fight with a wizard, especially with this one who, by his guess, was a very powerful one. Weldon poured the lea as Uuger danced in his chair.

“I’m very sorry about starting that bar fight,” Miranda said in an ashamed voice.

“No need to be m’lady. It’s nice to see a lady able to stand up for herself and those men needed a little excitement,” Weldon said with a grin. He turned to Josan, “You may take you hood down if you like Master Josan, I will not judge you.

Damn wizards Josan thought. He slowly lowered his hood and revealed his silver eyes Miranda was always amazed by his eyes; she could sit there and look into them forever. It was like looking at the night sky with a thousand dancing stars.Josan usually didn’t take his hood down, even when they were away from other people. Weldom studied Josan a moment, studing his face and especially his eyes.

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“I’m not truly sure but I believe it was my father.” It was clear Josan was uncomfortable about talking about his heriatgae. Weldom seemed to enulfed in asking questions to notice.

Uuger sat across from Miranda and silently watched as everyone conversed, sipping his tea. Miranda sat quietly too, but her attention was drawn to Uuger instead of the conversation. He looked like a strange creature but acted like a child. She was not frightened by him at all; instead, he seemed a little cute. Uuger looked up from his cup and smiled at her. She smiled back warmly.

“Pretty lady should try sweet, very good,” Uuger said as he pointed to the spiced cakes.

Miranda picked up one of the cakes and took a bite and smiled again at Uuger. “Excuse me, Master Weldon, what is Uuger? I don’t think I ever heard of anything like him,” Miranda said while nibbling on a cake.

“Uuger is a unique creature, he is a chirmara, a creature born of magic. That is why he was drawn to your fairy stone. My ex-apprentice created him, he always was creating things from magic,” Weldon said.

“What kind of things?” Miranda asked.

“Uuger was the first and the only thing that mad man did right. He started making other creatures that obeyed his commands and used them in evil ways. I banished him from the town and destroyed what beasts I could, but he created more horrible creatures to terrorize the country side.” Weldon said with spite in his voice.

“Was that what happened to the buildings at the edge of town?” Josan asked.

“Yes, they are getting stronger, I can barely hold them off,” Weldon said with a tired sigh.

“Where is he?” Josan asked.

“In the mountains somewhere, but I’m far too old to go tromping through the mountains to find out where exactly,” Weldon said, grimacing, at his age. “Plus I can’t leave the village unguarded. These are simple folk they have no way to defend agianst these horrid beasts.”

Miranda looked to Josan, her question unspoken but heard. Josan hated the delay but she was right. “Maybe we can help. We could hunt your appritence down.”

“I would be eternally grateful, but be careful, wizards are known to be tricksters. I believe he is hidding in the mountain caves. You may take Uuger with you. He should be able to lead you straight to him,” Weldon said humbly, as Uuger danced in his chair.

“You both should get some rest, please stay in my house. I must go over to the tavern and see to the damages,” Weldon said as he left with Uuger holding his hand.

Josan and Miranda laid down on the floor and planned out their strategy for the next day. Soon Miranda was fast asleep as Josan tossed and turned in the thralls of a nightmare.

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